Association of Macronutrients Intake with Body Composition and Sarcopenic Obesity in Children and Adolescents: A Population-Based Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2018

The association of macronutrients intake with body composition and sarcopenic obesity remains uncertain in children and adolescents. We aimed to explore the association between macronutrients intake and body composition, especially sarcopenic obesity, in children and adolescents residing in the United States. The study utilized data from 5412 participants aged 6–17 years who attended NHANES between 2011 and 2018. Body composition was assessed using DXA, and nutrient intake was based on 24-h recall. Multivariable linear regression and multinomial logistic regression were used. The unweighted prevalence of sarcopenic obesity was 15.6%. A higher percentage of energy (5 %E) from fat was inversely associated with muscle mass but positively associated with fat mass and sarcopenic obesity. Substituting carbohydrate (5 %E) with fat decreased muscle mass by 0.03 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.06) but increased fat mass by 0.03 (95% CI 0.01 to 0.06) and increased the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity by 254% (95% CI 15% to 487%). Replacing protein intake with fat intake also increased the OR of sarcopenic obesity (OR, 2.36 [95% CI 1.18 to 3.18]). In conclusion, a high-fat diet, coupled with low carbohydrate/protein intake, is associated with sarcopenic obesity among children and adolescents. The change in children’s diet towards a healthy diet with low fat composition may help prevent sarcopenic obesity. However, randomized clinical trials or longitudinal studies are needed to further validate our findings.This study was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 82204062) and Beijing Postdoctoral Research Foundation

Effects of polyethylene glycol on the surface of nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery

The rapid development of drug nanocarriers has benefited from the surface hydrophilic polymers of particles, which has improved the pharmacokinetics of the drugs. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a kind of polymeric material with unique hydrophilicity and electrical neutrality. PEG coating is a crucial factor to improve the biophysical and chemical properties of nanoparticles and is widely studied. Protein adherence and macrophage removal are effectively relieved due to the existence of PEG on the particles. This review discusses the PEGylation methods of nanoparticles and related techniques that have been used to detect the PEG coverage density and thickness on the surface of the nanoparticles in recent years. The molecular weight (MW) and coverage density of the PEG coating on the surface of nanoparticles are then described to explain the effects on the biophysical and chemical properties of nanoparticles.This article is published as Shi, Liwang, Jinqiu Zhang, Man Zhao, Shukun Tang, Xu Cheng, Wenyuan Zhang, Wenhua Li, Xiaoying Liu, Haisheng Peng, and Qun Wang. "Effects of polyethylene glycol on the surface of nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery." Nanoscale 13, no. 24 (2021): 10748-10764. DOI: 10.1039/D1NR02065J. Copyright 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Posted with permission

Health consequences of obesity and projected future obesity health burden in China

Objective: This study examined the effects of overweight/obesity on mortality and morbidity outcomes and the disparities, time trends, and projected future obesity health burden in China. Methods: Cohort studies that were conducted in China and published in English or Chinese between January 1, 1995, and July 31, 2021, were systematically searched. This study focused on overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, cancers, and chronic kidney disease. Results: A total of 31 cohorts and 50 cohort studies reporting on mortality (n = 20) and morbidities (n = 30) associated with obesity met study inclusion criteria. Overall, BMI was nonlinearly (U-shaped) associated with all-cause mortality and linearly associated with risks of T2DM, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and chronic kidney disease. In 2018, among adults, the prevalence of overweight/obesity, hypertension, and T2DM was 51.2%, 27.5%, and 12.4%, respectively. Their future projected prevalence would be 70.5%, 35.4%, and 18.5% in 2030, respectively. The projected number of adults having these conditions would be 810.65 million, 416.47 million, and 217.64 million, respectively. The urban-rural disparity in overweight/obesity prevalence was projected to shrink and then reverse over time. Conclusions: The current health burden of obesity in China is high and it will sharply increase in coming years and affect population groups differently. China needs to implement vigorous interventions for obesity prevention and treatment

The rice blast fungus SR protein 1 regulates alternative splicing with unique mechanisms.

Serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins are well known as splicing factors in humans, model animals and plants. However, they are largely unknown in regulating pre-mRNA splicing of filamentous fungi. Here we report that the SR protein MoSrp1 enhances and suppresses alternative splicing in a model fungal plant pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. Deletion of MoSRP1 caused multiple defects, including reduced virulence and thousands of aberrant alternative splicing events in mycelia, most of which were suppressed or enhanced intron splicing. A GUAG consensus bound by MoSrp1 was identified in more than 94% of the intron or/and proximate exons having the aberrant splicing. The dual functions of regulating alternative splicing of MoSrp1 were exemplified in enhancing and suppressing the consensus-mediated efficient splicing of the introns in MoATF1 and MoMTP1, respectively, which both were important for mycelial growth, conidiation, and virulence. Interestingly, MoSrp1 had a conserved sumoylation site that was essential to nuclear localization and enhancing GUAG binding. Further, we showed that MoSrp1 interacted with a splicing factor and two components of the exon-joining complex via its N-terminal RNA recognition domain, which was required to regulate mycelial growth, development and virulence. In contrast, the C-terminus was important only for virulence and stress responses but not for mycelial growth and development. In addition, only orthologues from Pezizomycotina species could completely rescue defects of the deletion mutants. This study reveals that the fungal conserved SR protein Srp1 regulates alternative splicing in a unique manner

The RRM domain is essential to all the MoSrp1 functions but the SR region is important for stress responses.

(A) The yeast two-hybrid assay showing that the interactions between N-terminus (1–90 aa) or the C-terminus (91–206 aa) of MoSrp1 and MoRnps1, MoGrp1, and MoThoc1. The interaction between AD-T and BD-Lam is used as the negative control, and the interaction between AD-T and BD-53 is used as the positive control. (B) The colonies formed on OTA plates at 5 dpi by the strains P131, srp1ko1, cSRP1 and srp1ko1 transformants expressing the N-terminal fragments cSRP11-90 (1–90 aa), cSRP11-130 (1–130 aa), the C-terminus fragment cSRP191-206 (91–206 aa), mutated MoSrp1S117A (M117), mutated MoSrp1S119A (M119), and mutated MoSrp1S117AS119A (M117/119) of MoSrp1. (C) Statistics on colony diameters of the strains described in (B). (D) Conidia per petri dish produced on OTA plates by the strains described in (B). (E) Representative disease lesions on the leaves of susceptible barley sprayed with conidia of the strains described in (B), and photographed at 5 dpi. (F) Statistical analysis of colony growth reduction rates of the strains in (B) cultured on CM plates supplemented with different stress agents (1 M sorbitol, 100 μg/ml CFW, or 200 μg/ml CR) at 5 dpi. (G) Statistical analysis of colony growth reduction rates of the strains described in (B) under MM, MM-N, and MM-C conditions. The means and standard deviations in (C, D, F and G) were calculated based on three independent experiments with measuring three plates for each replicate. Asterisk marks significant difference between P131 and mutant strains using t-test (p < 0.05).</p

List of differential expressed genes with the deletion of <i>MoSRP1</i>.

(XLSX)</p

Expression and purification of MoSrp1 from <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>.

Lane M, molecular mass markers; Lane–IPTG, total protein extracted before IPTG induction; Lane +IPTG, total protein extracted after IPTG induction; Lane Total Protein, supernatant of total protein extracted after centrifugation; Lane Purified, MoSrp1 protein after affinity chromatography and gel filtration. Lane Anti-His, immunoblotting confirmation of purified MoSrp1 by an anti-His antibody. (TIF)</p

MoSrp1 enhances the intron splicing efficiency of a virulence gene <i>MoATF1</i>.

(A) Position of the 5’-GUAG-3’ motif in the MoATF1 pre-mRNA. (B) RT-PCR analysis showing splicing efficiency of the first intron of MoATF1 in the ΔMosrp1 mutant srp1ko1 as compared with the wild-type P131. The ratio between the spliced and the total introns was shown at the bottom of each line. (C) RNA-EMSA assay showing the binding strength between MoSrp1 and the 5’-GUAG-3’ consensus in the first intron of MoATF1. (D) RT-PCR analysis showing splicing efficiency of MoATF1 or MoATF1CAAC in strains wild-type (WT) Guy11, ΔMoatf1, MoATF1/ΔMoatf1, and MoATF1CAAC/ΔMoatf1 (mutation of 5’-GUAG-3’ to 5’-CAAC-3’ in MoATF1 transcript). Guy11 was used as the wild-type strain to generate the ΔMoatf1 mutant. The ratio between the spliced and the total introns was shown at the bottom of each line. (E) Colony formed by strains WT, ΔMoatf1, MoATF1/ΔMoatf1, and MoATF1CAAC/ΔMoatf1 on OTA plates at 5 dpi. (F) Statistics on colony diameters of strains WT, ΔMoatf1, MoATF1/ΔMoatf1, and MoATF1CAAC/ΔMoatf1. (G) Conidia per petri dish produced by strains WT, ΔMoatf1, MoATF1/ΔMoatf1, and MoATF1CAAC/ΔMoatf1 on OTA plates. The means and standard deviations in (F and G) were calculated based on three independent experiments each with three plates measured. Asterisk marks a significant difference between the Guy11 and mutant strains using t-test (p (H) Representative disease lesions on leaves of susceptible barley sprayed with conidia of strains WT, ΔMoatf1, MoATF1/ΔMoatf1, and MoATF1CAAC/ΔMoatf1.</p

List of defects on intron splicing with the deletion of <i>MoSRP1</i>.

(XLSX)</p

List of MoSrp1-interacting proteins identified by immunoprecipitation and yeast library screening assays.

(DOCX)</p